A bill being prepared by the French government could set a minimum legal age for sexual consent for the first time, and the country's justice minister says she thinks 13 could be a reasonable age.
Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet told France's RTL radio network that age 13 was a "limit that is worth considering" for the upcoming legislation, but noted that judges should also have the ability to assess whether someone was old enough to give consent in individual situations.
"The question of the age below which the minor's consent is presumed not to exist is crucial, because there are obviously extremely shocking and unacceptable situations," Ms Belloubet said.
Two recent court cases have heightened the debate over who is old enough to consent to sex under French law.
A jury last week acquitted a 30-year-old man who was accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in 2009, French media reported.
The jury in the Paris suburb region of Seine-et-Marne found while there had been a sexual relationship between the girl and the man, it did not constitute rape according to the legal definition of the crime in France.
French media also have reported the prosecutor's office in the city of Pontoise near Paris decided in September a 28-year-old man suspected of having sex with an 11-year-old girl should be tried for sexual abuse instead of rape because of how French law defines rape.
French law defines rape as any act of sexual penetration committed on others "by violence, coercion, threat or surprise".
The definition does not distinguish between adults and minors for either the victims or perpetrators, although the potential criminal penalty is higher when victims are under 15.
A minimum age of sexual consent does not currently exist in French law.
The law only says that an adult who performs a sexual act with a person under the age of 15 "without violence, coercion, threat or surprise" can be prosecuted for "sexual abuse", not rape.
